Greetings from The Tower! Ashton coming at you live, buzzed on coffee and sunshine. It's Monday and I'm happy because tomorrow is Tuesday and Tuesday means Thanksgiving Break!

When I was in high school, all Thanksgiving Break meant to me was getting shuttled off to various meals with various family members and sleeping a lot. Now, it means going home and seeing my family (and then getting shuttled off to various meals with various family members). This year is going to look a little different for me, as my family and I are traveling to Washington D.C. just because!

So, friends because I will be missing out on my typical at-home Thanksgiving, I'm going to share with y'all my favorite things to do over Thanksgiving Break!

1. Sleep / Rest / Do NothingThis break comes in the slump of the semester; classes have been going on for three months, tests seem like they haven't stopped since August, and you've started mentally preparing for finals. By the time Thanksgiving rolls around, exhausted is an understatement. I don't know about y'all, but there's something special that happens when I sleep in my own bed. I always wake up feeling so rested! Having the chance to rest at home is so good! So do it! Sleep for as long as you can and don't look back!

2. Spend time with friends, family, and pets!One of the sweetest things about college breaks is that all of (or at least most of) your friends come home! And your family is at home! And last but not least, your pets are there! Yay pets and family and friends! After being apart for months at a time, I love getting to come together with my best friends and talk for hours about the ups and downs of the semester so far. So do it! Tell your parents the stories they wish they already knew. Cuddle with your pets like there's no tomorrow (maybe add friends and family to the cuddle-- your decision).

3. Eat Pie (and other delicious things)Something that we never disagree on in The Tower is that food is important. Yes, we all stay well nourished and mostly full why at school, but there's a completely different kind of full that home offers. Y'all, eat pie. Eat all the turkey your heart desires! Then go cuddle with your pets some more and then eat the leftovers while cuddling with your pets! Seriously, enjoy all the goodness that Thanksgiving has to offer-- eat the food.

4. Sleep moreBecause we know you need it.

5. Watch movies, read books, listen to music!"Free time" is an almost-foreign concept to college students, but Thanksgiving Break offers you heaps loads (five days) of it! If you're anything like me, then you miss watching movies and reading books without having an assignment or five hanging over your head the whole time. Take hold of the opportunity you have over the break and watch a movie, read a book, and then watch another movie! If you need suggestions for movies, check out our Fall Movie Blog! If you need a suggestion for books, ask a friend! Or read "Love Does" by Bob Goff cause it's super great.

6. Go on an adventure!Let's get real, you learn how to go on adventures while you're in college. I've been on more road trips, day trips, and spontaneous adventures in the past year and a half than in the entire eighteen years I lived before. My advice: take these new adventure skills home with you over Thanksgiving Break and go adventure around your home town! You may think you've seen all there is to see, but I'm willing to bet that you're wrong. Take a day trip, explore the town, or maybe your adventure will just be a really good nap.

7. Sleep moreBecause finals are coming, food makes you sleepy, and college students can never get enough rest.

8. Take time to be thankfulThanksgiving is all about looking at our lives and thinking about what we're really thankful for. So in-between your naps, adventures, and food, don't forget to be thankful for what you have. Make lists, share with friends, and thank God for the sweet things in life. After all, it is THANKSgiving.

I hope you all have the most magical, turkey filled, pumpkin flavored Thanksgiving Break you could ever dream of. Don't forget to be thankful.

See yah later alligators,Ashton, water drinker, air breather, world conqueror